Sleep Issues

We have been waiting for a good long time for The Baby to sleep for more than 4-5 hours a night. As a newborn, she spoiled us with a couple of months of solid sleeping from the get-go, but then around four months, settled into a pattern of waking several times a night. Not unusual for a nursing baby and what is motherhood without a good daily dose of sleep deprivation, so we just came to accept it. But as she is closing in on 18 months, we (and by we, I mean me, the one who gets up to soothe said baby throughout the night) were starting to be ready for a full night of uninterrupted sleep.

It took Little Diva a good 16 months to start sleeping through the night so the timing seems about right. And low and behold, for the past few nights, The Baby has actually been sleeping for about 10 hours. Most likely she wakes ups, as all babies do, but she must be getting herself back to sleep. No crying required.

Sadly, this fabulous milestone has coincided with a sudden dramatic change to Little Diva's sleeping pattern. While she has always been prone to the occasional middle-of-the-night venture to our bed, she has just begun to regularly wake up and come into our bed around the same time EVERY night. And given her flair for the dramatic, she doesn't just quietly creep in. She flings herself into the bed, tosses and turns to get comfortable until she is finally able to wedge herself in perpendicularly between Sweet Hubby and me. As I've mentioned, I'm pretty laid back. I don't object to a child in my bed. I do, however, object to a jagged toenail jabbed into the small of my back all night.

I'm not sure of the cause for the recent night wakings. Scary dreams, room too hot or cold, the lack of the nightly cries of The Baby to which we had all become conditioned? Perhaps that's it! Perhaps little Diva is so finely attuned to the needs of her baby sister that she wakes herself in panic when she doesn't hear her cry at least once per night.

But I feel bad for the poor girl - clearly something is disturbing her. Perhaps one of my more psychologically-minded blog friends (hint hint) will address the topic of night wakings.

But in the meantime, I guess my nights of unrest and coffee-and-Diet Coke-fueled days are not over just yet.